CUBA  FOR  CHRIST 

Notable  events  in  Cuban  history: 
Discovery  by  Columbus  October  28, 
1492.  Natives  almost  annihilated  by 
Spaniards.  First  slave  to  the  New  World 
brought  to  Cuba  in  1524;  nearly  one 
million,  up  to  1860.  Total  abolition  of 
slavery  in  1887.  Chinese  coolies  introduced 
in  1848;  about  100,000  subsequently  came. 
An  uprising  against  Spain  in  1829;  another 
in  1844;  a  great  but  unsuccessful  revolution 
in  1848;  another  of  ten  years  from  1868  to 
1878,  that  cost  Spain  the  lives  of  8,000 
officers,  200,000  privates  and  $300,000,000. 
The  last  revolution  began  in  1895.  Steam¬ 
ship  “Maine”  blown  up  in  Havana  harbor 
February  15,  1898.  Weyler’s  atrocities 

shocked  the  civilized  world.  April  11, 
1898,  President  McKinley  said  to  Congress: 
“In  the  name  of  humanity,  the  name  of 
civilization,  in  behalf  of  endangered  Ameri¬ 
can  interests,  which  give  us  the  right  and 
the  duty  to  speak  and  act,  the  war  in 
Cuba  must  stop.”  April  22,  1898,  war 
against  Spain  declared;  July  1,  battle  at 
San  Juan;  July  3,  destruction  of  Cervera’s 
fleet;  July  17,  our  flag  unfurled  over 
Santiago;  January  1,  1899,  last  vestige  of 
authority  of  Spain  over  Cuba  vanished  and 
guardianship  by  our  Government  began. 
Estimated  cost  of  the  war  to  the  United 
States  $200,000,000.  Cuban  Republic  estab- 


□- 


-□ 


□ - □ 

lished  May  20,  1902;  hence  May  20  is  Cuba’s 
national  holiday,  as  Fourth  of  July  is  with 
us.  First  President  of  “Cuba  Libre”  elected 
Dec.  31,  1901,  and  assumed  office  May  20 
following,  the  American  governor  and 
troops  withdrawing. 

^HE  COUNTRY.  Cuba  is  730  miles 
long;  its  greatest  width,  135  miles; 
average  width  about  30  miles.  Its  area  of 
45,000  square  miles  is  about  three-fourths 
that  of  New  England;  nearly  equal  to  that 
of  Pennsylvania.  Mountain  ranges  of  East¬ 
ern  Cuba  have  an  altitude,  near  Santiago, 
of  8,600  feet,  sloping  sharply  18,000  feet  be¬ 
low  the  water  to  the  ocean’s  bed.  Cuba,  the 
fairest  and  most  fertile  of  the  tropical 
islands,  is  justly  termed  the  “Pearl  of  the 
Antilles.”  Yellow  fever,  a  legacy  of  the 
slave  trade,  has  practically  been  eradicated 
by  American  sanitary  methods. 

'T'HE  PEOPLE.  The  population,  accord- 
ing  to  census  of  1907,  was  2,048,980;  of 
whom  1,224,540  were  whites;  274,272  ne¬ 
groes;  334,695  mulattoes;  11,837  Chinese; 
203,646  foreigners,  of  whom  185,393  were  of 
Spanish  birth.  People  of  all  classes  and 
colors  mingle  in  society,  in  business  and 
in  the  churches;  though  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  to  separation  on  racial  lines. 
Antonio  Maceo  and  his  brother,  leaders  in 
the  late  war,  were  free  mulattoes,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  the  Cuban  army  were  negroes. 
Cubans  are  hospitable  to  American  ideas. 

■DOMANISM  IN  CUBA.  Rome  ruled 
Cuba  religiously  for  four  hundred  years. 
Church  and  State  were  united.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  last  century  religious  toleration 
with  special  restrictions  was  granted.  The 
hierarchy,  mostly  Spaniards,  took  the  side 
of  tyrannical  Spain  in  the  recent  revolution 
and  so  incurred  the  hatred  of  hosts  of 
Cubans.  The  priests  in  general  were  indolent, 

□ - □ 


morally  bad,  very  sordid  in  their  exorbitant 
charges  for  baptism,  for  marriage  and  for 
burial.  Hence,  according  to  a  late  census, 
while  246,351  people  were  married,  131,787 
lived  together  by  common  consent,  being 
unable  generally  to  pay  the  priestly  charges 
for  the  marriage  ceremony.  African  slaves 
were  taught  a  few  rudiments  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  so  that  within  a  year  after 
their  arrival  they  could  be  baptized  and 
become  members  of  the  church.  Romanism 
in  Cuba  therefore  was  generally  of  a  low 
type  and  repulsive  to  the  progressive  ele¬ 
ment  struggling  for  independence. 


^UR  FIELD  IN  CUBA.  By  an  amicable 
^  arrangement  the  Home  Mission  Board 
of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  has  the 
four  western  provinces,  while  the  American 
Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  has  the  two 
eastern  provinces  of  Camaguey  and  Oriente. 
These  eastern  provinces,  with  an  area  of 
23,000  square  miles,  are  a  little  more  than 
one-half  of  the  island ;  their  population, 
about  500,000,  being  one-fourth  of  the  whole. 
In  Camaguey  about  four-fifths  are  white 
and  one-fifth  colored;  in  Oriente  about 
three-fifths  white  and  two-fifths  colored. 

The  population  of  the  chief  cities,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  census  of  1899,  was  as  follows: 
Camaguey,  53,140;  Santiago,  43,090;  Hol¬ 
guin,  6,045;  Manzanillo,  14,464;  Guantanamo, 
7,137;  Baracoa,  4,937;  Nuevitas,  4,228; 
Gibara,  6,841;  Bayamo,  3,022.  The  great 
iron  mines  of  Eastern  Cuba  have  attracted 
American  capital,  and  important  railways 
have  been  built.  This  region  has  a  bright 
future. 

^UR  MISSIONS.  The  Society’s  first  ap- 
^  pointee  was  Rev.  H.  R.  Moseley,  D.  D., 
as  General  Missionary,  with  headquarters  at 
Santiago,  in  January,  1899.  He  had  been 
a  missionary  in  Mexico  and  acquired  com- 


□ - □ 

mand  of  the  Spanish  language,  and  for  thir¬ 
teen  years  has  handled  the  entire  work, 
including  the  erection  of  church  edifices, 
with  rare  ability.  His  residence  is  at  El 
Cristo,  Province  of  Oriente,  twelve  miles 
from  Santiago,  and  1,000  feet  above  sea 
level  in  the  beautiful  hill  region. 

Here,  in  1907,  the  Society  established  a 
splendid  school,  with  173  pupils  the  first 
year,  which  has  given  strength  and  per¬ 
manence  to  its  missionary  work.  This  en¬ 
terprise  is  almost  self-supporting.  In 
Santiago,  Camaguey,  Guantanamo,  Bayamo 
and  Manzanillo — as  in  other  strategic  points 
— the  work  is  well  oiganized.  In  a  remark¬ 
able  way  God  has  given  us  pre-emption  of 
many  places,  and  pre-eminence  in  the  num¬ 
ber  and  efficiency  of  missionaries  and  in 
substantial  results  in  Eastern  Cuba. 


WHAT  HAS  BEEN  ACCOMPLISHED. 

From  nothing  in  1898,  the  work  has 
grown  until  the  reports  for  1911-12  show 
a  total  of  54  churches;  73  out-stations;  2,701 
members;  38  chapels  and  8  pastors’  resi¬ 
dences;  56  Sunday  schools  with  2,511  mem¬ 
bers;  and  236  baptisms  during  the  last  year. 

The  value  of  church  buildings  and  parson¬ 
ages  is  $112,000,  and  of  school  buildings 
and  equipment  $51,000 — a  total  of  $163,000. 
During  the  nine  years  more  than  3,500  con¬ 
verts  have  been  baptized;  Christian  homes 
have  been  established,  and  native  workers 
have  been  called  of  God  to  preach,  and 
have  been  trained  for  His  service.  A 
monthly  paper,  “El  Mensajero,”  is  published 
at  Camaguey.  An  Association  gathers  all 
the  workers  together  annually.  The 
churches  are  undertaking  to  pay  all  inci¬ 
dental  expenses  and  a  percentage  of  the 
pastors’  salaries,  with  the  goal  of  self-sup¬ 
port  kept  in  view.  A  profound  impression 
has  been  made  upon  the  people  by  our  mis¬ 
sions.  The  Association  of  our  Cuban 
churches  has  recently  voted  to  contribute 

□ - □ 


to  the  support  of  a  missionary  in  the  adja¬ 
cent  island  of  Santo  Domingo. 

AN  OPEN  DOOR.  Dr.  Moseley  says: 

“In  Mexico  and  other  Catholic  coun¬ 
tries  everything  is  against  us.  In  Cuba  the 
tide  is  in  our  favor.  There  is  absolutely  no 
fanaticism  manifested  toward  us.  All 
classes  of  people  in  crowds  attend  our  serv¬ 
ices.  To-day  is  the  day  of  opportunity. 
Rome  is  alert  and  at  work  to  win  back  to 
her  fold  this  people  who  have  been  alien¬ 
ated,  and  she  will  succeed  if  Protestant 
America  is  blind  to  this  matchless  oppor¬ 
tunity  that  God  in  His  providence  has  given 
her.”  The  people  freely  buy  and  read 
copies  of  the  Bible — a  rare  thing  in  Catholic 
lands. 

(^UR  DUTY  AND  PRIVILEGE.  Dr. 
^  Morehouse  says:  “The  measure  of  our 
duty  is  determined  by  the  deplorable  re¬ 
ligious  condition  of  the  people ;  by  their 
proximity  to  us;  by  their  accessibility  and 
readiness  to  receive  the  Gospel;  by  their 
particularly  friendly  disposition  toward 
this  country.  As  it  was  our  privilege  in 
the  interest  of  humanity  to  help  in  Cuba’s 
emancipation  from  the  Spanish  yoke  and 
pilot  her  on  her  new  career,  so  it  should 
be  esteemed  a  privilege  by  the  Christian 
people  of  this  country  to  crown  that  work 
by  the  religious  emancipation  of  Cuba, 
which  then  indeed  shall  be  Cuba  Libre. 
Shall  the  ‘Pearl  of  the  Antilles’  become, 
through  our  efforts,  a  pearl  in  the  diadem 
of  our  Lord?” 

FUTURE  of  Cuba  depends  largely 


*  upon  the  results  of  the  missionary  ef¬ 
forts  now  under  way.  Christianity  alone 
can  fit  the  Cubans  for  good  government 
and  a  new  order  of  civilization.  The  Cuban 
people  in  a  measure  realize  this  and  wel¬ 
come  the  missionaries  most  cordially. 


D 


12  M. 


•[i]  Ci 


IV/TISSIONARIES  AND  TEACHERS. 

The  names  and  addresses  of  our 
American  ordained  ministers  are  as  follows: 


MISSIONARIES 


Rev.  H,  R.  Moseley,  D.  D., 

El  Cristo,  Province  Oriente 

Rev.  a,  B.  Howell  Guantanamo 

Rev.  Juan  McCarthy  Baracoa 

Rev.  F.  J.  Peters  Bayamo 

Rev.  A.  L.  Story  Santiago 

Rev.  E.  W.  Watson  Victoria  de  las  Tunas 
Rev.  D.  a.  Wilson  Camaguey 


teachers  in  international  school 

AT  EL  CRISTO 

Rev.  Robert  Routledge,  Principal 

ScoTT  Cotton 

Mrs.  Scott  Cotton 

Mrs.  H.  R.  Moseley 

Miss  Alicia  McCarthy 

Afiss  Eva  Dorsett 


THE  AMERICAN 
HOME  MISSION 

23  East  26tk  Street 


E  A  D  Y 


BAPTIST 

SOCIETY 

New  York 


- □ 

SERIES 


REFERENCE 


